Life of Brian

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass.—Forget what the scoreboard said at Kelley Rink last Friday night, and repeat after me.

Will Crothers posted a shutout against Boston College.

Sounds bogus, I know. But consider the facts: Crothers faced 24 B.C. shots. Crothers stopped 24 B.C. shots.

Twenty-four stops on 24 shots—that makes for a shutout, no?

OK, so technically, Crothers stopped only 23 and the other shot was the game-winning goal. But that’s just the official scorer’s version. Here’s mine.

The shot in question came in the form of a first-period slapper by Eagle sophomore Justin Dziama, who fired from the top of the right faceoff circle after skating down the wing.

Dziama put plenty of zip on the shot, but make no mistake—Crothers stopped it.

The Harvard goalie extended his hand and got his glove on it, deflecting the puck wide. It was definitely a save. Only problem was, Crothers couldn’t find the puck after he made it.

“It went off the thumb of my catcher,” Crothers said. “It went up in the air. I had no idea where it was. I totally lost it. I don’t know how it went in, actually.”

For the record, Crothers kicked it in himself. After skipping off his mitt, the puck landed directly behind him. As he backed up into the crease, Crothers inadvertently knocked it past the goal line.

Harvard defenseman Blair Barlow had skated over to try to clear the puck, but arrived late. Crothers had backpeddled too far and the goal light was on.

Oops.

“It’s unfortunate you get beat on a soft goal,” Harvard Coach Mazzoleni said. “It was a soft goal that beat us. ”

It was a cheapy, all right. But credit Dziama with his first goal of the season and an assist each to Eagles defensemen Andrew Alberts and J.D. Forrest (none to Crothers).

The puck didn’t bounce Crothers’ way Friday night. Literally. But that’s all right. He’s just a sophomore, so there’ll be plenty be more chances against B.C. in the future. There’ll even be more chances for Mazzoleni, who is still winless against the Eagles since coming to Harvard.

The good news was, Crothers is back and feeling strong. Friday was Crothers’ first game in net since going down with an illness two weeks ago. The official word is that he had the flu.

“He was fatigued,” Mazzoleni said.

The illness struck on the heels of Crothers’ best effort in a Harvard uniform. Against Dartmouth on Nov. 10, Crothers had 44 saves as Harvard escaped Hanover with a 3-3 tie.

But with Crothers out, Harvard freshman Dov Grumet-Morris was suddenly given an open audition for the starting job. The rookie impressed, guiding Harvard to back-to-back wins against Cornell and Colgate before falling victim to a lousy effort by Harvard’s defense against Boston University.

But if Crothers had been tired before last weekend, there was little sign of fatigue against B.C. Aside from the lost rebound, Crothers’ night was flawless.

There weren’t many shots by either team to start the game, but when the B.C. attack gathered steam late, Crothers rose to the challenge.

In the third period, Harvard was slow getting back on defense and B.C. mounted one odd-man rush after another. One instance was particularly threatening, as B.C.’s Tony Voce and A.J. Walker broke in on a two-on-one.

Voce approached on Crothers’ right, skated all the way to the goal line and then—after forcing Harvard defenseman Noah Welch to commit to the puck—stopped short and flung a centering pass to a wide-open Walker.

Crothers didn’t miss a beat, sliding to his left to stop Walker cold.

“I’m pretty confident that I can get across when I need to,” Crothers said. “I just stayed with the shooter until he passed it.”

There were many more saves like that one. The athletic Crothers, whose father was an Olympic sprinter, made them all look easy.

“[B.C.] caught us in transition tonight,” Mazzoleni said. “I bet you they had about six or seven of those [breakaways] tonight. Will played very well through those.”

Against most teams, Crothers’ near-perfect performance would have been enough for a win. But B.C. netminder Tim Kelleher also had something to prove Friday.

Like Crothers—who toiled patiently as the backup to Oliver Jonas ’01last year—Kelleher also played second-fiddle in 2000. Scott Clemmensen, now in the NHL, was B.C.’s main man last year.

Also like Crothers, Kelleher knows what it’s like to have a talented , upstart freshman breathing down his neck. After allowing some iffy goals in a 5-2 loss at Wisconsin on Nov. 2, Kelleher watched Matti Kaltiainen step in and win three straight games.

Kelleher redeemed himself Friday, turning aside 23 Harvard shots, including some close bids by sophomore forward Tim Pettit.

With Kelleher playing better, B.C. Coach Jerry York appreciates the option of having two solid backstops at the ready.

“That really helps our club when we get both goalies playing well,”he said. “Matti’s had three games in a row with one goal each, and now Timmy comes back with a shutout.”

From here on out, York will likely continue to platoon his goalies. Mazzoleni, it appears, may follow suit. Both Crothers and Grumet-Morris, he said, will play in next weekend’s series against St. Lawrence and Clarkson.

“Our goal is we’d like to rotate them,” Mazzoleni said. “I think we’re definitely at a point where that’s something we have to strongly consider right now.

“I would say right now they’re both going to play. They both deserve the right to play.”

Crothers, Mazzoleni said, did everything asked of him Friday. The only thing missing? Offense.

“He put us within striking distance to try and tie [the game],” Mazzoleni said. “We didn’t respond to it.”

The goals will come. For now, it’s enough that Crothers—and Grumet-Morris—are healthy and giving Harvard a chance to win.

Crothers, in particular, says he has plenty left to give.

“I feel fine [physically],” Crothers said. “I have a lot of energy left.”